Much anticipation for championship rugby this coming weekend

Above: Tawa's supporters at last year's Jubilee Cup final. Tawa were the third team in as many years to win the title, after Ories and MSP.?

The 2014 Wellington Premier, Premier 2 and Colts club rugby season is now in championship mode.

It's do or die from this point on, as the 12 teams left standing in the Jubilee, Hardham and John E Kelly Memorial Cups prepare for the first weekend of knockout rugby this coming Saturday.

In the Jubilee Cup, top qualifiers and 2007 champions Hutt Old Boys Marist host 2011 winners and fourth placed Oriental-Rongotai at the Hutt Recreation Ground and second placed Wainuiomata and third placed Marist St Pat's meet in the other semi-final at William Jones Park.

Defending Hardham Cup champions Northern United host fourth placed Avalon at Porirua Park in the major Premier 2 semi-final and Poneke and the Wellington Axemen meet at Kilbirnie Park in the other.

All four Jubilee Cup and Hardham Cup semi-finals kick-off at the earlier than usual time of 2.30 pm, to allow for extra time.

In the Division 1 Colts John E Kelly Memorial Cup, unbeaten Old Boys University Green takes on fourth placed Petone Blue at the Basin Reserve at 2.30 pm and second placed Hutt Old Boys Marist Blue plays third placed qualifier Northern United Blue at the Hutt Rec at 12.30 pm

The stage is set for a memorable final fortnight of Jubilee Cup rugby. All four teams have featured in recent semi-finals. Hutt Old Boys Marist is playing to win its third Jubilee Cup, Ories its second, MSP its 15^th and Wainuiomata its first.

Wellington sport's most coveted trophy was presented by the WRFU in 1929 as part of its golden jubilee year and, despite some formatting changes along the way, has always been awarded to the winner of the competition among the leading teams in the Premier division.

The now defunct University club (merged with WCOB to become Old Boys University) was the first recipient of the Jubilee Cup, having successfully defended their title from 1928. Five different clubs won the Jubilee Cup in its first five seasons, before Hutt became the first multiple winners in 1934 when it backed up its 1931 success.

Petone have the most Jubilee Cup victories. From their first win in 1930, they have gone on to record a further 22 Jubilee Cup titles, including an unprecedented five consecutive wins between 1967-1971. They also shared the Cup with St Pats Old Boys in 1949 and Wellington in 1982.

Other multiple winners include MSP (13 outright titles, one shared), Athletic (seven outright, one shared), University (seven, one shared), Wellington (five, three shared) and Poneke (five). The current semi-final and finals format was introduced in 1993. In that time MSP have triumphed nine times (once shared), Northern United four times (once shared), Petone three times, Poneke twice, ?and the Wests Roosters, Hutt Old Boys Marist, Ories and Tawa once each.

Now in its 85th year, the Jubilee Cup still remains as the definitive accolade in Wellington club rugby.

The Jubilee Cup was once hugely popular in Wellington sport; an estimated 23,000 people packing Athletic Park in 1953 to watch Victoria University with four All Blacks in?its side?led by the great Ron Jarden?win the Cup.

The following era was characterised by the great Petone sides dominating the Cup. The Petone team from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s is regarded as the greatest club side in Wellington's history, and as one of the most dominant ever in New Zealand. This team won five consecutive Jubilee Cups from 1967-71 and again in 1973, 1974 and 1976, a total of eight wins in 10 years.

The Wellington Axemen won or shared four titles in the 1980s, with the 1980s and 1990s also characterised by the ensconcing of MSP as perennial contenders. The 2000s will be remembered by the awakening of Northern United, who won the Cup in 2004, 2006, 2008 (shared with MSP) and 2010.

Four different clubs have won the last three Cups, Norths in 2010, Ories in 2011, MSP in 2012 and Tawa in 2013. The previous occasion that the Cup was won by four different clubs in consecutive years was 1975-1978 when Poneke, Petone, Athletic and MSP/Wellington shared it respectively.

The previous 15 Jubilee Cup winners have been:

2013: Tawa

2012: Marist St Pat's

2011: Oriental Rongotai

2010: Northern United

2009: Marist St. Pat's

2008: Marist St. Pat's and Northern United shared

2007: Hutt Old Boys Marist

2006: Northern United

2005: Petone

2004 Northern United

2003 Poneke

2002 Marist St Pat's

2001 Marist St Pat's

2000 Petone

1999 Marist St Pat's

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